Such a Pretty Flower
by Fantasy's Whisper
Summary: It's their final year at Hogwarts. James has one last chance to get Lily, Sirius is determined to wreak as much havoc as possible, Remus struggles with Snape knowing about his furry friend, Peter has been disappearing lately, and could Lily actually be developing feelings for James? James/Lily, MWPP, trying to stay canon, R
1. Achillea

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plotline of this story. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling**

**Author's Note: **This is my first go at a Harry Potter fanfic, I'm going to stay as close to the facts as possible. If I mess something up please let me know! Fun fact, all the chapters are gonna be titled for flowers ;)

* * *

**Chapter One: Achillea – State of War**

When Lily appeared on the platform she let out a sorrowful sigh. This was going to be her last time going back to Hogwarts. She was starting her seventh year, of course this was going to be the best year yet but she would miss the castle that had become such a home to her. She made sure that her Head Girl badge was attached securely to the front of her robes before she went in search of her two best friends, Mar Macdonald and Marlene McKinnon.

"Lily!" A voice called from behind a cluster of lower-classmen. Marlene was dragging her trunk in one hand and carrying a cage with a beautiful barn owl in the other.

"Marlene! How are you? How was France?" Lily asked as soon as she could speak in a voice that was not quite a shout.

"France was wonderful! For some reason they make the boys over there much cuter than the ones here!"

"That's their plan, steal the hearts of all the women of Britain in order to conquer its men," Mary quipped as she walked over.

Lily gave her third friend a hug. She hadn't seen either of her friends over the summer, they'd only exchanged a few letters as Lily didn't have her own owl and Marlene had been holidaying in France with her parents.

"Shall we find a compartment then?" Marlene asked, "Before all the little first years take all the good ones?"

"Yes, but I have to go up to the prefects compartment to brief them on patrol duty," Lily replied.

* * *

"Oy! Prongs! Snap out of it, you'll be driving her crazy soon enough, you don't need to stare at her," Sirius cried as he dragged his mate down the platform towards their usual compartment.

James shook his head and shrugged Sirius's arm off. He knew how to walk on his own. Sighing he followed his best mate to where they would meet the other two members of the infamous pranksters, the marauders. However, he didn't know how many pranks he would be playing this year as he had been made Head Boy, a shock that no one had seen. What Dumbledore had been thinking, James had no clue, but it did mean he'd get to spend more time with Lily. She was bound to be Head Girl, there was no better choice.

"Moony! MOOOOOOOOOOOO-NY!" Sirius was practically screaming, causing a commotion as per his usual standards.

"Sirius, there's no need to scream." Remus replied softly as he turned around in time for Sirius to tackle him. "Padfoot, geroff!"

James laughed as Remus and Sirius rolled around on the platform. Remus doing his best to get up with some sort of dignity, Sirius making it near impossible to do so.

"Alright, you two! No wrestling on the platform!" James called laughing. Remus scrambled away from Sirius and gave him a glare.

"I should take points from you Padfoot," Remus muttered as he straightened his clothes and finger combed his hair.

"Ha! Moony take points from me! Since when have you even pretended to be a prefect with me?" Padfoot dragged his trunk into the compartment and stored it in the luggage rack before going back out to help his friends with their luggage.

"Anyone know where Wormtail is?" James asked as the warning whistle blew and anyone still on the platform scrambled to get onto the train.

"Not a clu-" Remus started to say when he saw Peter running as fast as his chubby little legs would let him while dragging his trunk behind him.

"Guess we should go help him," Sirius laughed as he hopped out of the compartment followed by James.

The two boys ran and grabbed Peter's trunk from him. With no luggage Peter was able to run faster and get onto the train before it started to move. Remus helped to pull the trunk inside as James hopped in. The train was beginning to gather speed and Sirius was near sprinting to keep time so he could get into the compartment. James reached a hand out and helped Sirius clamber into the compartment.

"Thanks Prongs," Sirius laughed as he put his friend into a headlock.

"James we should head to the Prefect carriage." Remus told him, "Better put that shiny Head Boy badge on."

James had to wonder if Remus was a little disappointed that instead of him being made Head, Dumbledore had given the position to James. It wasn't even like James had tried to behave last year, he Sirius had had more detentions in the past year than they had in the first five years altogether.

* * *

"No! There is no way Dumbledore made YOU Head Boy! What was he thinking? No, he WASN'T thinking! No one in their right mind would make James Potter Head Boy!" Lily was screaming at James after the prefect meeting. She had kept herself composed long enough to conduct the meeting and send the prefects on their way before she began her diatribe.

James was trying really hard not to shout back at her. He hadn't done anything to provoke her this time. He had even restrained himself from sending her letters over the summer in hopes that she would see him as a more mature James this year.

"Lily, would you give me a cha-" James tried to cut in before she could really get going.

"What did you call me?" Lily had a steely glint in her eyes, any moment steam would be coming out of her ears.

"Lily?" James said hesitantly, "That is your name, right? I know that your surname is Evans but I thought your first name was Lily, please correct me if I'm wrong."

"Potter, you are not to call me by "Lily" or "Lils" or any other variation of my name you or Sirius come up with, got it?" Lily was fuming. How dear he think he could call her Lily now? Sure he had left her alone all summer but that didn't undo six years of him being an arrogant bullying toerag.

James frowned, he let out a small sigh and nodded his head. Without another word he left in search of his friends. Sirius would know how to cheer him up, he had honestly thought that maybe Lily would realize Dumbledore had seen something in him that made him worthy of being Head Boy, he thought she would give him a chance.

* * *

Lily entered the compartment that she was sharing with Mary and Marlene. Lost in her thoughts she didn't even notice that there was an extra body in the compartment. One with shaggy black hair, who was tall and broad shouldered. He was wearing a worn black Beatles t-shirt and jeans.

"What is your problem! Why can't you just give him a bloody chance? He didn't send you letters to give you a chance to see he's changed! He's grown up, that he's trying to stop being 'an arrogant bullying toerag' as you so eloquently put it!" Sirius yelled at the small redhead.

Lily stopped in her tracks. Why was Sirius here? She completely ignored what he had said. She tried to shove past him so she could take a seat by the window which is where she normally sat.

Sirius grabbed her arm, "No, I'm not finished yet! You're going to give James a chance this year, even if it kills you. I promise if you die you don't need to marry him!"

Sirius shoved her roughly towards the window and stormed out of the compartment. Lily was in so much shock from what had just happened she didn't even glare after him. She turned to look at Marlene and Mary who looked a little disappointed.

"What was that about?" Lily asked them.

"Lily, I don't think you should have yelled at James. I think you actually hurt his feelings this time," Mary replied, not quite sure that Lily would understand.

"Mary, Dumbledore made him Head Boy. Head Boy! Potter is Head Boy! Of course I had to yell at him, how else would he have figured out that he can't screw up this year?" Lily answered, what was this, everyone-gang-up-on-Lily-day?

"I hate to break it to you Lil, but James isn't that bad. He hasn't asked you out since before Easter break last year, he didn't send you any letters over the holidays. I know that he didn't yell back when you started shouting to him after your meeting, and he didn't call you Evans. What gives?" Marlene, who had known James since they had both been in diapers, said with a slight hint of venom in her voice, a tone that she never took with Lily.

"Marlene, come on, he hasn't changed one bit! You know the minute we get to Hogwarts, he and Sirius will start hexing people and playing pranks!" Lily cried indignantly, what had gotten into everyone over the summer?

"I'm just saying Lily, you could have been a little bit nicer, at least heard him out before you gave him a tongue lashing." Marlene sighed, "Let's talk about something else, shall we?"

"Like the incredibly good looking French boys you got to hang out with over the holidays?" Mary laughed, it was something that the three girls would be able to talk about without any argument over James.

* * *

"Padfoot! She's gonna hate me even more now!" James moaned as he glared at Sirius.

"She needed to hear it Prongs, you'll thank me in the end. Marlene and Mary even looked like they agreed with me, seeing as neither of them told me to shut it and get out like they normally would."

The train was slowing as it pulled into the station. James just shook his head as he and the other three boys gathered their belongings as they made to get off the train in Hogsmeade.

"James, I think Sirius is actually right for once. Maybe Lily will at least be not hostile to you, I mean you do have to work together this year don't you?" Remus said as he and James left their belongings with Sirius and Peter so they could oversee and manage the students getting off the train.

Hagrid was gathering first years around him as they prepared to head to the boats. It was a calm, clear night and they shouldn't have any problems getting across the lake to the castle. James helped a couple of third year girls with their trunks. Maybe he would just have to not let Lily get to him to prove to her that he had changed. He was determined to end this war between the two of them, even if it meant that he had to wave the white flag first.

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**Author's Note:** Leave a review! They make me happy!


	2. Bellwort

**Author's Note:** Thanks for the reviews! They're very motivating, so motivating in fact that I somehow managed to write a 3000 word chapter when I was only aiming for about 1700!

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**C****hapter Two: Bellwort – Hopelessness**

Lily felt ready to burst. The welcome feast was definitely one of the best meals she had every year. Actually every feast at Hogwarts would be ranked in that category, the food was always so good. Not to mention all the dessert ripe for the picking at the end of the meal. She said goodbye to Marlene and Mary as they trekked up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower. Lily went in search of the painting of Sir Lancelot and 's where the Heads Quarters were located according to the letter she had received from Dumbledore.

She wandered the halls for a while until she realized she had absolutely no idea where she was going. She stopped in the Charms corridor to get her bearings.

"Excuse me miss, are you lost?" An elderly wizard in a painting asked kindly.

Lily smiled and nodded. "I'm looking for the painting of the Lancelot and Guinevere."

"Ah, you must be the new Head Girl! Congratulations my dear!" The wizard replied, beaming at her, "That painting is on the sixth floor, in the east wing!"

Lily mumbled her thanks as she scurried off in search of her bed. The food induced coma was beginning to take its toll on her and she was beginning to think she wouldn't make it to the Head Quarters before she fell asleep. She was very surprised that Potter hadn't tried to help her find their shared quarters. He hadn't even glanced her way during the entire feast. Maybe Marlene was right, maybe she'd been unfair towards him.

"Stop that this instant," Lily told herself, "It's Potter, if he hadn't been such a pest the past six years you wouldn't have snapped at him.

* * *

James sat on the plush purple couch. The Head Quarters were the most amazing thing, he was kind of upset that he and Sirius had never found them through their midnight excursions. There were three long couches framing a rug with the Hogwarts crest in the center in front of a magnificent fireplace. On the left side of the room a door led to a room with two sinks set in granite counters and two more doors within that led to a shower and another to the loo. The right side of the room had short staircase that led to a door at the top of it, beneath the stairs was another door. James figured that the door at the top of the stairs was Lily's bedroom.

James was patiently waiting for Lily to arrive. He had wanted to offer to help her find their quarters but Remus had told him to let her do it herself. So an hour after the feast had finished James was still waiting for her. He was starting to think about going to look for her when the portrait swung open and in walked Lily.

Lily looked around the room in awe. A smile filled her face, until she caught sight of the tall, dark haired boy on one of the couches. The smile turned to a thin line and she just looked at him, waiting for him to say something stupid like 'So, will you go out with me Evans?' or 'Now that we're sharing a room, maybe we should share a bed too' or something equally as piglike.

"I'm glad you found the place Lily, see you in the morning."

James turned and walked to the door on the first level and closed it quietly behind him. Lily watched him go, completely baffled. Maybe here friends were right, maybe James was going to be more mature this year. Lily immediately dismissed the thought, he was just trying to lull her into a sense of security before he became an arse again.

* * *

"Lily is a lost cause, I don't see why James just doesn't see that!" Sirius burst out.

It was almost midnight and the Gryffindor common room was empty except for five seventh years. Remus looked like he was about to pass out but Sirius refused to let him leave. Marlene and Mary were reading a muggle magazine on a couch as they listened to Sirius rant about their best friend.

"Sirius, I suggest you don't meddle with the two of them this year." Mary told him, "Lily will figure out that they're meant to be together soon enough. I mean they're basically living together this year right? Lily will see that James is actually a good guy and James will see that Lily is always a stuck-up brat."

Sirius snorted is dissent, he would always think Lily was stuck up. James would stay obsessed with her until she had him arrested for stalking her. "Mary, they are both hopeless!"

Mary rolled her eyes and looked back at the magazine. She wasn't sure why she and Marlene were still hanging out with the three marauders at this hour. Neither of them had a problem with them like Lily did, but it was late and tomorrow classes would start early.

"Sirius, can we talk about this tomorrow? I'm tired," Peter asked, stifling a yawn.

Sirius glared at his four companions, "Does no one else here care that Lily and James are probably at each other's throats right now? Lily could be strangling James from walking past her!"

"I doubt that, I told James to basically ignore her tonight," Remus told Sirius blandly, like it was the most obvious choice when discussing James's behaviour towards Lily.

"Remus, that might actually work you know," Marlene piped up as she stood and stretched. "Lily will realize she loves Jamesie's obsession over her, then she'll realize she secretly does love him, they'll get together and then married, have lots of babies and live happily ever after. Good night."

Marlene crossed the room and through a door to the comfy bed that awaited her. Mary stood up and made to follow but stopped when she caught the look on Remus's face. "She was being serious Remus, it will probably work. No Sirius, I didn't mean he was being you."

Sirius grinned at her last comment. The pun was one of his favourite things. "Well men, shall we turn in?"

Sirius didn't wait for a reply he let out a lion like yawn and marched off to the boys' dormitories. Remus and Peter followed him, grumbling about how they had wanted to go to bed hours ago.

* * *

James woke up to the predawn light streaming through the curtains around the window. It was so nice to not be woken up by Sirius jumping on him from across the room. He enjoyed having his own room but he sort of missed the boys, it was odd to not hear Peter snoring or Remus's occasional muttering mid-sleep.

As James climbed out of bed he thought of Lily, who was sleeping in the room right over top of his. He had never thought he would get this close to her without her threatening to turn his face into a large boil. He sighed and flung the covers off himself, he had enough time to go take a shower before going down to breakfast.

* * *

Lily opened her eyes and looked towards the window. A pearly sheen surrounded the white gauzy curtains. She smiled, her room was perfect for her. A big four poster bed with silky white curtains hanging around it, a plush purple carpet stretched across the flagstones and a beautiful desk sat in the corner of the room.

She had completely forgotten that her sworn enemy was sleeping in a room below her. She gathered her things and headed towards the washroom to take a shower and get ready for her last first day at Hogwarts.

* * *

James turned the shower off and stepped out. He quickly ruffled his hair with a white towel and patted the rest of himself dry before wrapping the towel around his lower half an twisting a knot into it. He didn't hear the movement in the room outside as he tried shake the water out of his ears. He opened the door and walked straight into Lily, knocking her over in the process.

"Lily, I'm so sorry…I didn't hear you," James stumbled, he was very aware of the fact that he was in nothing but a towel.

Lily just stared up at him. When had the scrawny little boy she had met six years ago turn into such a good looking boy? His chest muscles were very defined and she couldn't help but notice his chiselled abs. She could feel a faint blush creeping into her face, hopefully James wouldn't notice. He was actually a very handsome boy, Lily couldn't believe what she was thinking. Potter handsome? Arrogant Potter, _handsome_?

James didn't miss the way Lily's eyes were wandering over his body. He couldn't help himself and the words were out of his mouth before he realised he was saying it, "Like what you see?"

Lily's eyes narrowed. There he was, the cocky, arrogant Potter she had been waiting to see surface. He always had to think he was so awesome and so amazing and so perfect. A little piece of Lily's mind said that he was very good looking though.

"There he is, the cocky Potter I knew was waiting just below this fake surface you've plastered. You can't help it, there's no way you'll be able to change. Marlene told me to give you a chance and I was going to until now!"

Lily stood up and stalked past him into the shower room. She slapped the door behind her. James wanted to slam his head into the wall. Why had he said that? Why was he such in idiot when Lily was around?

"Why can't you just listen to Remus, for once in your life?" James muttered to himself as he returned to his room to dress and gather his school bag.

* * *

"She caught you in a towel?" Sirius laughed, "What did you say? What did she do? She must have noticed how good looking you are!"

"Yeah, she did. I asked her if she like what she saw," Remus shook his head at James, he would never learn would he? "She yelled at me and slammed the door in my face basically. And Sirius thanks, but I don't really swing that way mate, but I support you completely!"

Sirius looked at James like he was being deliberately obtuse, "You know that's not what I meant."

Peter caught the joke finally and started laughing after Sirius and James had stopped. Always a step behind them, Peter ignored the looks that they gave him. Why couldn't they be nice to him once in a while? They were always looking down their noses at him. Sure he was up to par with them in classes, and he didn't get as many girls as they did, but that didn't mean they had to treat him like a charity case.

"James, you're hopeless. You know that?" Remus told him with a small smile, "You know Mary and Marlene said that if you just ignore Lily she'll realize that she loves you?"

"They said that!" James knocked over his pumpkin juice, which happened to spill into Peter's lap.

Peter groaned and ran off to get changed before having to go to his first lesson. A group of fifth year girls giggled at him, clearly seeing the patch of liquid on the front of his pants and getting the wrong idea.

"Yes, so just be cool for a couple weeks, alright?"

* * *

"You saw James Potter half naked! You've got to tell us all about it!" Marlene squealed, a little too loudly as some of the Hufflepuffs at the next table over looked at them with interest.

"Thanks Marlene, now the whole school will know by lunch," Lily muttered and glared across the table at her friend.

"Come on Lil, spill," Mary said, ignoring the look Lily gave her.

Lily told them how James had knocked her over that morning, and how she couldn't help but notice how muscled his body was. She saw Marlene and Mary exchange a look that made her a little nervous, they were up to something. Lily told them what James had said, a smug look on her face. He was not got to change, he would always be arrogant and she would date the giant squid before she dated him.

Marlene groaned when she heard what James had said. She had known him since they were toddlers. He was like a brother to her and she had to admit he shouldn't have said what he did if he was trying to show Lily he had changed. Making it her goal to get him alone sometime today to corner him and tell him off she listened to Lily chatter about the Head Quarters.

"We're going to have to have a sleepover in there sometime soon!" Mary exclaimed excitedly, it had been weird last night without Lily in the dormitory.

"Of course! We'll have to kick Potter out for the night, but he can go spend the night with Sirius!" Lily waggled her eyebrows.

"Don't even go there Lilykins! Everyone knows that Prongs only has eyes for you," Sirius said as he walked past the three girls.

James gave him an exasperated look. Sirius was not helping him with the whole ignore-Lily-so-she-sees-that-he-is-more-mature thing. Remus poked Sirius hard in the ribs, earning him a swat from Sirius.

"Moony, didn't you mother ever teach you not to poke people? It's rude," Sirius said primly, like he was the head of decorum for the Queen.

James snorted and nodded to the trio of girls before he and Remus began to walk away. Sirius took this opportunity to verbally poke Lily. "I heard you saw Jamesie in a towel this morning, did you like what you saw?"

James raced back and grabbed Sirius's ear. He dragged him from hall, ignoring his friend's protests of pain. Remus shook his head, if James didn't get Lily this year it would most likely be due to Sirius. James, Sirius and Lily were all hopelessly lost. Remus decided he was going to keep his distance from the whole thing if he could. He did not want any of the blame to fall on his shoulders.

* * *

Lily sat next to Mary during their first class of the year, Potions. Unlike most students, she enjoyed the hours spent down in the dungeons. Not only because she was talented at potions but because it was like baking when she was at home in the muggle world. Marlene had not gotten a high enough OWL to continue with potions. Unfortunately for Lily, James, Sirius and Remus had all managed to get an E, enough for Professor Slughorn to allow them to continue.

Slughorn started with a lecture about how important it was to pay attention this year, as they would be sitting their NEWTs in a few months. He expected all of them to pass of course. The lesson went by without any incident. James watched Sirius glance over at Snape every so often. He knew that Sirius was planning something, something he had to stop.

Remus continually looked between Sirius and Snape. It was only four months ago that Snape had found out he was a werewolf, no thanks to Sirius.

"Padfoot, don't start something with Snape," James muttered softly, "We have one year left and Dumbledore told you to be careful around him."

Sirius half nodded at this and turned back to cauldron. Remus gave James a grim smile in thanks. James couldn't help but look across the dungeon at Lily. She watched him with a warning in her eyes. The muttering and looks toward Snape made her think that the three boys were plan some sort of prank on him, which only Sirius was fool enough to do.

The lesson ended and everyone packed up their things. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were gone quickly. A Slytherin girl, Lucinda and Evan Rosier didn't wait for Snape, they left the dungeons quietly. Snape left shortly after them. Followed by the three Gryffindor boys, Lily and Mary brought up the rear talking in hushed voices.

Sirius flicked his wand lazily at Snape's back. James shot Sirius a warning look. Sirius laughed and stopped. Remus could feel anxiety creeping its way through his body. What if Snape let people know about what he was? Sirius shouldn't be antagonizing him. Sirius flicked his wand again as Snape approached the stairs. It was at this moment that Lily looked up and saw what was happening.

"Ten points from Gryffindor!" Two voices yelled at exactly the same time, one male and one female.

Sirius dropped his wand and Snape turned around. Lily looked at James horrified, he had actually called Sirius out for bullying Snape. James half smiled at Lily, he hadn't done it to show her he'd changed but it certainly made him feel good that she had been there to see him upholding his Head Boyship.

"I don't need a blood traitor and a mudblood protecting me!" Snape shouted at the five Gryffindors.

James turned back to Snape, "Five points from Slytherin, for inappropriate language towards the Head Boy and Girl. Get out of here before I put you in detention." James knew there was hate and venom in his voice, he didn't even care that Lily would call him out for 'acting the chivalrous knight'.

Snape snorted and stormed off up the stairs. Sirius looked at James in disbelief. "Prongs, why did you take ten points from me?"

"It's twenty with Lily's addition, and I distinctly remember telling you not to mess with Snape half an hour ago." James nodded curtly to Lily, he and Remus followed the stairs up and away from a less than happy Sirius.

"Way to go Evans, you`ve whipped my best mate," Sirius muttered, "The two of you are so hopelessly hopeless!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Review, review, review! I'm going to try and update a chapter a day, kind of like a month challenge for me to finish the story before Harry's birthday ;)


	3. Yellow Chrysanthemum

**Author's Note:** LeviosaLove - I think that out of all the Marauders Lily would have liked Remus the most, but I don't think they would have been very close friends until after she had begun going out with James. Remus never tried to keep James and Sirius in line and I think that would have really bothered Lily. But in time they will become good friends in this story.

* * *

**Chapter Three: Yellow Chrysanthemum – Slighted Love**

Everyone was pretty impressed with how peaceful things seemed to be. Most of the students who knew Lily and James thought they would have brought the castle down around their ears but the end of the first day. No one thought they could cooperate, they were wrong only because James and Lily were avoiding one another.

Lily and James had successfully avoided each other for ten days. Neither knew what to say. Lily was baffled with how James had tried to uphold peace when his best mate was the one causing the raucous. James was scared that Lily would say he was just trying to impress her, that he probably gave Sirius points for doing something stupid not much later that day.

Unfortunately they couldn't avoid each other at their meeting with Professor McGonagall. Both were expected to be present and civil with each other in her presence, neither wanted to be replaced for childish behaviour.

"Well, I'm not going to lie, I'm rather surprised with the way you two have managed to put aside you differences. When Professor Dumbledore told who had appointed to the position I was worried you would continue arguing with one another, but you've both managed to mature over the summer," McGonagall smiled at the two students. "Now, next week the teachers will stop patrolling and the prefects will start. Make sure you come up with a patrol schedule and distribute it to the prefects, also the Hogsmeade dates need to be set."

Lily and James nodded. They took the praise from McGonagall with quiets thanks. This meant the two of them were going to have to work together, a moment they had both been dreading since the first day of classes and the incident with Snape.

"That's all I have for the two of you, I will see you both in class tomorrow morning." All three smiled and the two students left at the dismissal.

"So, when would you like to start working on the patrol schedule? We could do it now if you'd like," James offered without looking at Lily.

"Yes, let's get it done with now," Lily said as they made their way back to the Heads' common room.

The silence between the two was awkward and tense. Neither knew what to say, so instead said nothing. James glanced sideways at Lily, her fiery hair was up in a ponytail and a wispy curl was tucked behind her ear. He thought he might as well give it a shot, Remus said even if she said no James would have at least put the idea into her head.

"Um, Lily," James said softly, hoping she wouldn't get upset with him. "I know we've never gotten along, but like McGonagall said we need to put aside our differences in order to work well together. I'm not asking you to be my friend, but could we not be enemies?"

Lily turned and looked at James thoughtfully. She was impressed with how he had put it. She wasn't sure his one moment of justice was enough for them to be friends but that along with no letters over the summer had certainly made a point of telling her that he'd grown up just a little.

"Alright James, we're not enemies, but we're not quite friends yet," Lily said evenly, a little piece of her mind nudged her to let him be her friend, but the rest of her wasn't quite ready.

"Acquaintances then?" James asked curiously, he wanted to know what Lily was going to call this new relationship.

"I think that fits," Lily replied cordially, it was nice to not be yelling at him for once.

"Good, we can start afresh. Almost like this is the first time we've met," James smiled hoping she would let this conversation flow normally.

Lily felt a little bubble swell inside her with irritation, "Pott- er, James, I don't want to sound rude but can we just take it slow, I won't shout at you for calling me Lily but it's going to take time for me to forget the past six years if you know what I mean." Lily did her best to shrink the bubble, afraid that it would pop and she would break this little truce.

James frowned. He thought maybe she would have let him ask questions about her, get to know her better and she would in turn ask him questions about his own life. He knew that she assumed a lot about him, but there was so much that she didn't know about him. A pang of sadness hit his heart.

"Of course Lily, we'll take it as slow as you would like," James replied as they approached the common room.

Lily could see the frown, she felt a little bad about shutting him down like that. "Maybe in time we'll be friends, just not yet."

James felt his heart beat with this small glimmer of hope. She had just said in time they could be friends, then maybe after she would realize he was the perfect man for her! Don't get ahead of yourself, she said maybe first.

* * *

The next week went by without much incidence. Lily, Marlene and Mary would occasionally eat meals with the Marauders and sometimes you could even catch the seven young people sharing a corner of the Gryffindor common room. Lily still wouldn't let James ask her anything but she had stopped calling him Potter and would smile at him when they passed each other in a corridor.

"I'm impressed Lily," Marlene said as she rummaged through her trunk looking for a blue shirt she knew she had packed. "You and James are practically friends."

"Keyword being practically, but we aren't friends." Lily replied as she made the pillow on Mary's bed bounce and hit Marlene in the face.

"Hey!" Marlene laughed and grabbed the pillow, hurling it back at Lily's head but missing by quite a large amount.

"Anyway, like I said, James and I are just…just acquaintances," Lily told her friend. "He hasn't proven to me yet that he can be one of my friends yet."

Mary raised one eyebrow, "And what would prove to him that you could be friends?"

* * *

James and Sirius were the last one left in the Gryffindor locker room after practice. James had been made captain again this year, something that Sirius didn't begrudge since he hated having to be organized and on time.

"So what's going on with you and Evans?"

"What do you mean?" James asked absentmindedly as he hung up his robes.

"I mean," Sirius smirked, "Why is she calling you James now, and smiling at you all the time. And why are we eating with her and Marlene and Mary, not that I mind, Marlene is a pretty girl and Mary isn't too bad either."

James rolled his eyes at his mate's superficial interest in Lily's friends. "I swear anything with legs and breasts is your type Padfoot."

"That's not true! Just the blondes, and I'm not against going with a brunette either. Redheads are probably fun too, but the only one here I'd say is pretty is your Lilyflower. I'm not into girls with black hair, mostly because of my cousin Bellatrix she's too crazy for me to like any girl with black hair."

"She is not my 'Lilyflower', we're not even friends yet," James insisted as he and Sirius began the trek back up to the castle.

"Well why not? She has to realize that you're not an arrogant, bullying toerag now."

James explained to Sirius about Lily wanting him wait before they became friends. He though that there was something she was waiting for him to do to prove that he was friend quality, he hadn't quite figured out what that was though. Sirius racked his brains to try and figure out what it could be.

"Maybe you should ask her out again!" Sirius exclaimed as they rounded the corner, headed towards the painting of Lancelot and Guinevere.

James shook his head, that would definitely not help him become friends with Lily. Sirius had been in the Head common room a few times, James refused to give him the password knowing that he would be asking for trouble if he did that. He also knew Lily would probably not be very happy if she found out Sirius knew how to get in on his own.

"Sirius, that would do exactly the opposite of what I want. Asking her out would show her that I'm still a boy obsessed with her. I want her to see that I've grown up over the summer." James replied as they entered common room.

"But you two have been so chummy lately, how could she say no!" Sirius shouted, he didn't understand this weird relationship between Lily and James.

James just shook his head and led Sirius across the room and to his own room. He didn't want Lily to come back from the library or wherever and get upset with Sirius being there. Sirius would say he was whipped but frankly James didn't care anymore, he was determined to show Lily he took other people's feelings into consideration.

Unbeknownst to the two boys, Lily was just emerging from her own room. She had been studying at her desk, it was nice to not have to go anywhere to find a quiet place to study now. Her door had been open and she had heard what James had said about asking her out. A smile crept its way onto her face. She could actually see her calling him a friend. He was beginning to understand her without her saying anything.

* * *

Marlene and Lily were on their way to work on their Herbology homework on a quiet Wednesday evening. Since the school year had started three and half weeks ago there had been no scuffles between the Slytherins and Gryffindors. Of course there had been some unkind words exchanged between the lot of them, but wands hadn't been pulled out on any of those occasions.

"So you and James friends yet?" Marlene inquired as they turned down the Charms corridor.

"No, but I overheard him telling Sirius on Sunday that he wasn't going to ask me out because it would throw a wrench in how well we've been getting along." Lily replied.

Marlene was confused by this. Any female in Hogwarts would be crying over James Potter saying he wouldn't ask her out, but Lily was immensely pleased with this. "Okay, well I'm glad you're happy that he is taking this whole truce/try to be less than friends better than enemies thing seriously."

They continued down the hall towards the library. Lily couldn't help but let her mind wander, it decided to land on what the tall, black haired boy was up to at that very moment. It turned out that he was actually already in the library, listening to Sirius complain about the mountain of homework he had due that he hadn't started on yet and watching two people walking the halls on the Marauder's Map.

"Would stop watching Lily on the map and help me with my homework Prongs! Or you going to be helping Moony with his furry problem by yourself on Friday night!" Sirius hissed.

James rolled his eyes and was about to wipe the map when he noticed three people moving towards Lily and Marlene. The three names did not give him any comfort, they were all Slytherins, and all of them had a track record for enjoying the Dark Arts just a little too much.

"Sirius, get up, Mulciber, Avery and Snape are heading towards Marlene and Lily and if they're looking to play nicely I'll eat my broomstick," James didn't even wait to see if his Remus and Sirius were following him.

The three boys were sprinting in the direction of the Charms corridor. The heard a scream as they rounded the corridor. Marlene had a stream of blood down one side of her face and Lily was spiraling in circles in the air.

"Expelliaramus!" Remus and Sirius shouted, Snape and Avery's wands jumped out of the hands and were caught by the Gryffindors.

"Oh look who has come to the blood traitor and mudblood's rescue," Mulciber laughed cruelly as he sent Lily whirling faster than she had before. "Two blood traitors and another one of their cronies."

Snape and Avery laughed

"Fifty points from Slytherin," James yelled, "Mulciber put her down! And do it gently!"

Mulciber snarled, and unceremoniously dropped Lily. She plummeted towards the floor. James caught her with a hovering charm just in time or her skull would have broken her fall. He let her down gently and went to pull her to her feet. She was unconscious and there was blood on her face too.

"Detention, the lot of you," James said in a dead voice. "I'll be reporting you to the Headmaster, get out of here."

Mulciber smirked and gave a little bow and turned down the hall. Sirius and Remus grudgingly threw the wands back to their owner's, still holding their own aloft in case the Slytherins chose they still wanted to play with them.

"Come on, help me get these two up to the hospital wing," James said. Sirius hurried over to him and together they made a chair with their arms in order to carry the unconscious Lily.

Remus helped Marlene up and offered for her to put her arm around his shoulders so he could help guide her. She kindly turned down the offer and the two of them followed Sirius and James in the direction of the hospital wing.

"Marlene what happened?" James called over his shoulder.

She and Remus caught up so the she fell into step beside James. "We were on our way to the library when the three of them showed up. Mulciber told me to move out of the way, he didn't want to spill any pure blood."

James nodded, Mulciber was one of those wizards who was obsessed with pureblood mania. "And then he started hexing?"

Marlene nodded. Remus conjured up a handkerchief for her to wipe most of the blood from her face. They entered the hospital wing and Remus ran to fetch Madam Pomfrey from her office. Sirius and James set Lily down on a bed and Marlene settled onto the one beside it.

"Merciful heavens! What happened?" Madam Pomfrey came rushing over, Remus trailing behind.

"They were attacked by three other students," James told her, it was the same deadly quiet voice as before.

"Mr. Black please go and fetch the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall."

Sirius took off at a jog. James sat on the edge of Lily's bed and looked at. One single tear escaped him as he realized at that moment that he was no longer infatuated with her like he'd been for the past six years. He loved her like his parents loved each other. A love that was as true as the sun rising in the east.

"Madam Pomfrey is she going to be alright?"

The matron grimaced as she moved around the bed. She was waving and flicking her wand as she vanished the blood and sealed the cut. She muttered something about a concussion, and the emotional damage Lily would have afterwards.

"Alright, Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin, you both need to leave now, these girls need their rest," Madam Pomfrey told the two boys after she had finished with Marlene.

James refused. He was not going to leave Lily's side tonight, she deserved to have a friendly face to see when she woke up.

"Mr. Potter I insist that you leave the hospital wing at once."

"Poppy, I think that Mr. Potter should in fact stay here with Miss Evans tonight," Dumbledore said as he strode into the ward. McGonagall was behind him, it appeared that they had sent Sirius back to Gryffindor Tower.

Dumbledore spoke to Remus and James both privately while McGonagall spoke to Madam Pomfrey. Afterwards, Remus returned to Gryffindor Tower and James sat down in the chair beside Lily's bed. Madam Pomfrey clucked about how she was going to have to treat James for an injured neck and lack of sleep. Dumbledore smiled and waved his wand. The once uncomfortable chair was now a plush reclining chair that James seemed very pleased with.

"Good night, Poppy, Minerva, Mr. Potter and Miss McKinnon," with that he strode from the hall.

James smiled at the three women as he made himself comfy. Both McGonagall and Pomfry left, the latter extinguished the lamps with a wave of her wand.

"Thank you James, for coming to the rescue," Marlene told him softly before she rolled over and went to sleep.

James held Lily's hand as he laid back in the chair. He didn't care if he yelled at her for protecting her, he was never going to let her out of his sight again.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Adonis

**Chapter Four: Adonis – Patience and Humility **

Marlene was released from the hospital wing the morning after the incident, Lily had to stay for a full week. She was hardly awake whenever her friends came to see her, and when she was awake she wasn't lucid. Whenever James wasn't in class or patrolling as Head Boy he was at her bedside, much to the displeasure of Madam Pomfrey. Sirius had told him the punishment that Snape, Avery and Mulciber had received but he was so angry with them and sad about Lily that he didn't even remember what the punishment was.

During dinner the night before Lily was going to be able to leave the hospital wing, Remus passed James a thick stack of parchment. "What's this?" James asked confused.

"They're copies of the notes for Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms and DADA. For Lily, I thought you'd be a little distracted this week, distracted enough to forget she might want the NEWT notes that she missed. I'm not in Arithmancy or Ancient Runes so I don't have notes for those classes, but maybe you or Sirius took notes in Arithmancy…" Remus told James kindly.

"Take notes? Who are you kidding Moony, why would either of us take notes?" Sirius said as he sat down next to James and shoved a dinner roll into his mouth.

James caught him off before he could start to talk, "Padfoot, chew and swallow before you speak please. No one wants to see your half eaten food."

Sirius rolled his eyes and swallowed before he began to explain an elaborate prank he had dreamed of during one of his afternoon classes. He was waving his hands around, flinging food at the people surrounding them. A group of fifth year girls glared at him and looked like they were planning on flinging some of the mashed potatoes back at him. Sirius of course didn't even notice that he was covering his friends in his dinner.

"Who are we playing this prank on?" Peter piped up from next to Remus.

Sirius looked at the smaller boy with disdain, like he was being stupid deliberately. "Well who attacked Marlene and Lily, Wormtail?"

"Oh," Peter said, then with a little bit of snap, "Don't talk to me like I'm stupid, I wasn't with you three that night!"

James, Sirius and Remus look stunned. Peter never raised his voice at them, even when he had good reason to. For example when Sirius pranked him during a class causing him to squeal during one of McGonagall's lectures, costing him an evening of cleaning bedpans by hand in the hospital wing.

"You always treat me like I'm worth less than you," Peter said vehemently, before anyone could say a word he got up from the table and stormed out of the Great Hall.

"What do you think got into him?" Sirius asked confused, it was very out of character for Peter to shout at them and storm off.

"No clue, but where was he that night?" James answered.

Remus and Sirius both shrugged as neither of them knew what their pal Wormtail had been up to. To be honest they never really paid much attention to him when he was there, so when he wasn't they kind of forgot about him.

* * *

James, Remus, Marlene and Mary went to see Lily after dinner. Sirius had a detention for some prank he had pulled earlier in the day and no one had been able to find Peter after dinner. Not much of a surprise since he was very good at hide-and-seek, probably explained why he transformed into a rat.

"How are you feeling Lily?" James asked kindly as he sat down in his chair beside her bed.

"I feel like someone has been beating me with a cricket bat," Lily told him, the soreness heard in her voice.

"Did you tell Madam Pomfrey that? She probably has something you could take for it," Remus replied, he knew how it felt to be covered in bruises all over his body.

"And stay here for another week, I think not," Lily exclaimed exasperated. "I've already missed one week of class, another one will guarantee failing my NEWTs this summer."

"You're not going to fail your NEWTs Lily," Marlene rolled her eyes as she said this, at least once a week Lily would say this. "Cause if you do the rest of us are completely screwed."

Everyone but Lily, who was scowling, was laughing. Madam Pomfrey told them that if they continued to cause a raucous then they would have to leave. Mary muttered something about it being good that Sirius wasn't there since that's all he knew how to do.

"Anyways, you don't need to worry about falling behind in class," James said confidently as he handed the stack of notes to Lily.

Lily looked at them shocked, she flipped through the packet and smiled. "Thank you Remus."

James dropped his jaw, "How did you know Remus took the notes? I gave them to you, I could've taken them!"

"Let's be realistic here James, when have you ever taken notes? I thought that Remus was the Marauders' note taker for all four of you?"

This time everyone laughed at James while he scowled and crossed his arms. He tried to do a puppy pout but he just looked even more ridiculous, causing the group to laugh even harder. Madam Pomfrey came over and true to her word, kicked the four visitors out. Lily promised she would see them in class the next day.

* * *

The first full moon of the school year came the Friday night of the week Lily got out of the hospital wing. James was loathe to leave her alone for the night. She hadn't said anything about his constant, often quiet presence, but he sometimes thought he was driving her insane. He had a plan for the night though, thanking whoever had sent the luck his way that he didn't have to patrol that night.

James had told Lily that he was going to stay in the seventh year dormitory that night with the guys. Lily didn't find this odd at all, she told that she had wanted to invite Marlene and Mary over for the night since she first stepped foot in their wonderful rooms. This was what James had been hoping for. He promised her that he and the guys would stay out of the Heads' Quarters so the girls could have it all to themselves.

"Where is Peter? He's late and we can't get in without him," Sirius hissed from his bed.

They heard running on the stairs and someone crash into the door before some swearing and the door being pulled open, "I'm here, I'm sorry I'm late, I lost track of time." Peter was out of breath and hunched over.

James stopped Sirius from chewing Peter out for being late by standing up and heading for the door, the Invisibility cloak thrown over his shoulder and the map in one hand. "Let's go, Moony's furry friend awaits us."

* * *

"What do you think the boys are doing tonight?" Mary asked when she looked up from the muggle magazine.

"No idea, but can we make the pictures in your magazine move? The lack of movement kind of creeps me out," Marlene muttered she started jabbing the magazine with her wand, "Also the people are boring when they don't move."

"Clint Eastwood is far from boring!" Mary exclaimed as she pulled her magazine away not wanting her friend to damage Clint's face with her wand.

"Yeah, if you're into the whole covered in hair sort of guy," Lily mocked from the bed.

Mary rolled her eyes and turned back to her magazine. "Alright Miss Priss, who's your celebrity crush?"

"Barry Williams," Lily smiled. She remembered seeing an article about an American television sitcom about a family called the Brady Bunch. Barry was the oldest of the three sons.

"He's American! That doesn't count!" Mary called laughing loudly.

"So is Clint Eastwood! You're such a hypocrite!"

"Oh, I'm a hypocrite?" Mary asked a huge smile across her face, "When you're in love with a celebrity that represents James Potter almost perfectly?"

Lily made an undignified noise something between a snort and scoff. "James is nothing like Barry!"

"Can we just stop for a moment and fill Marlene in on who you're talking about, I didn't grow up in the muggle world remember?" Marlene laughed as she looked between the redhead and brunette who were playfully glaring at one another.

Lily filled their pureblood friend in on who the people she and Mary were talking about. She explained who Clint Eastwood was and Mary showed her the picture in the magazine. Lily continued on about Barry Williams, who they did not have a photo of but Mary described what he looked like and what she knew of him.

"He sounds like James, Lil," Marlene giggled while she dodged Lily's flying magazine.

"You two are awful friends, maybe I should put an ad on the Common Room bulletin boards for new ones," Lily told them in a high and mighty voice, sticking her nose up in the air and crossing her arms.

"Yeah, you could be friends with Lucinda," Mary mocked her, "The two of you would get on fabulously!"

Marlene and Mary were rolling around on the floor while Lily through objects at them. Magazines, pillows and sweets included.

* * *

Sirius and James trudged up the hill towards the castle. Both boys were covered in mud from head to toe, huge smiles plastered on their faces. They had been exploring the depths of the Forbidden Forest during the night. Peter was far ahead of them, he was probably already in the shower. For a rat he really didn't enjoy being covered in mud.

"What should we do next month? There are those mountains outside of Hogsmeade, we could go explore those," Sirius was already excited about the next full moon.

James laughed and shook his head. There was a little guilty voice in the back of his head. He felt awful that he and Sirius enjoyed these full moon excursions when Remus suffered from the real pain of them. Maybe he would have a talk with Sirius about this. Not now, he was too tired to argue with his mate nor did he want to dampen the good mood when they were both so exhausted from the night's roaming.

"You're sure Lily didn't suspect anything?" Sirius asked skeptically.

"Of course not, but to make sure she doesn't find out I'm going to shower in Gryffindor Tower and borrow a spare pair of robes from you so she doesn't see me covered in mud at 5 in the morning."

"Why would she see you this early in the day?" Sirius asked, a wolfish grin placed stupidly on his face, "You not telling me something Prongs?"

James blushed crimson, luckily it was still dark enough out that Sirius didn't see, "No! I'm being patient like Moony said, there's nothing going on between us like that!"

Sirius laughed heartily. It was a good laugh to see his friend in such a squirmy state, "I'm just pulling your tail Prongs, relax. But if something were going on, you'd tell me right?"

"Of course I'd tell you! You're my best mate, why wouldn't I tell you? Hell, you're going to be my best man at Lily and my wedding!"

"So there is something going on! I knew it! You are such a liar! You didn't even tell me, your best mate!" Sirius huffed and pretended to be all dithered like a girl who was arguing with her best friend, "Well that's just fine, Lily can be your new best mate, apparently I'm not good enough for that position anymore."

James shook his head and shoved Sirius into a wall as they walked down a corridor. "You better be quiet, McGonagall will be pretty peeved if she catches us like this on a full moon."

* * *

The weekend was very uneventful for the seventh year Gryffindors. Other than trying to climb the mountain of homework they had been given nothing of interest occurred. Even Sirius was too busy with his homework to play a single prank all weekend long. Whether it was because he had been up all night on Friday or if he was planning something that was bound to get him into enough trouble to warrant a week's detention no one was sure.

"Sirius, don't let this go to your head," Lily told him in a soft voice so not to disturb the others, "but I'm rather impressed with you actually doing your homework."

Sirius beamed, "Thanks Lilyflower, but I'm more than just a pretty face you know."

Lily laughed and turned back to her Charms homework. She couldn't help but admit that it was kind of nice hanging out with the Marauders, they weren't as bad as she had made them out to be. Well that wasn't entirely true, she had never thought that Sirius, Peter and Remus were bad, just James. But since she'd seen him grow up so much over the past month (and what was obviously months of work since Easter) she was glad she was giving him a chance. What was more is she was impressed with how patient he was being about letting her determine whether he was a to be a friend or not. Right now she was definitely leaning toward friend even if he wasn't Barry Williams.


	5. Lavender

**Chapter Five: Lavender – Acknowledgement**

"Admit it Lily, you like James!"

Lily rolled her eyes as she flipped the page in the textbook she was reading. Even though Remus had given her notes for the classes she had missed she still wanted to read the material about the lessons.

"Sirius, I do not like James." _Liar_, the little voice in the back her head said viciously.

Sirius continued to jabber at her. James had saved her from the Slytherins. He had kept a respectful distance. He let her have the girls over for a sleepover two weeks ago. He had stopped asking her out. He had proven to be a more mature man than last year. Sirius was his best friend.

"Just because he intervened in that incident with the Slytherins does not automatically make him my friend!" Lily told Sirius as she snapped her book shut loudly, "And what do you have to do with anything?"

Lily didn't even wait for Sirius's egotistical response, she grabbed her book and left Gryffindor Tower in search for a less crowded place. Everyone seemed to think that just because James had 'saved' her, she would automatically become friends with him, even go as far as his girlfriend. She thought it was all rather chauvinistic. Like she was a damsel in distress that needed a knight in shining armour to protect her.

She realized her feet had carried her to the entry hall. Maybe she would go and sit down by the lake, the alone time might be good for her. Everything was just getting way too confusing for her. Half of her wanted to like James and the other half was still holding back. It was tearing her in two and she couldn't take in any longer. Marlene and Mary were both no help at all, they were both pushing her towards James. She couldn't talk to Sirius because he was too close to James.

"Knut for your thoughts?"

Lily looked up and saw Remus. She grimaced trying to determine if Remus was a safe person to confide in about this. She opened her mouth to ask if he'd tell James. Remus, however, seemed to sense this and told her it was safe to tell him anything before she could even mention her worry.

Lily smiled, "Thanks Remus."

"So, what's been bugging you? You haven't seemed like yourself for a while."

"I'm just very confused right now. With James and being friends with you guys. Mary and Marlene won't even let me talk about the possibility of not being friends with him, and it's just…urgh," Lily sighed, she didn't know what she wanted.

"Confusing?" Remus asked, finding the most fitting word for her dilemma, "Can I make a suggestion?"

Lily nodded. "Do what you think is best for you. Whatever it is that you want. It's the only thing that is going to make you happy."

"But what if it hurts my friends than I'm going to be unhappy," Lily told him trying to get him to see the issue from her perspective. "I don't want to hurt James's feelings, I know he's tried very hard to change and grow up, even there is a bigger reason behind than me."

Remus tried to hide his smile, "It sounds to me like you've already determined how you feel about him. If you're worried about hurting his feelings so much there must be more than just lukewarm feelings towards him, am I right?"

It wasn't until that moment that Lily fully acknowledged the fact that she did indeed have some deeper feelings towards James. "How did we not become friends sooner Remus?"

"I think it's probably because I was incapable of keeping James and Sirius in line when I was made a prefect." Remus told her chuckling, he was filled with a warm fuzzy feeling when she called him friend, he had so few friends due to his…furry one. "I believe once you even told me that you expected more of me when we were fifth years."

Lily blushed crimson. She could remember that incident but there was no doubt in her mind that she'd said something along those lines. It was true of course, she had been disappointed with how Remus never seemed to take his position with any seriousness at all when in the presence of the mischief makers.

"You know that James is only trying to protect you because he cares about you right?" Remus asked as he offered Lily a hand up. "He hasn't been trying to drive crazy intentionally, at least not since this year started."

Lily laughed. James certainly took her well-being very seriously these days. He never let her go anyone without at least two other people, he was usually one of the two and if he couldn't Sirius usually stalked her if he could, probably on James's orders. "I'm not his wife yet, and times are changing, not every damsel is in distress, we don't all need a knight in shining armour."

"But you've got to admit that they come in handy in tough spots," Remus joked with her as they walked through front doors of the castle, "I mean who else is going to carry you through knee deep mud and keep you robes clean?"

"Some of us damsels like to wallow in the mud, some even like to wrestle in it," Lily laughed and winked at Remus.

* * *

James heard her laughter before he saw her. When she rounded the corner with Remus an ugly feeling passed through him. Why did he feel jealous, he knew that neither Lily nor Remus had feelings for the other. _But they could, they just didn't want to tell you, they didn't want you to do something stupid_. James banished the thought. Remus did not have any feelings for Lily, and even if he did he would never do that to James. Anyways he was far too quiet to vocalize his feelings, he was surprised that he and Lily had become such good friends James had been sure that Remus's extreme passiveness bothered her.

"Hey James, Lily and I were just talking about you," Remus grinned when he saw his friend.

"Really?"

"Yeah, about when Sirius turned your hair pink in our fourth year," Lily giggled when she saw how disgruntled James got at the mention of Sirius's prank.

"I've got to go finish Slughorn's essay, see you at dinner," Remus nodded to the two of them and left, leaving Lily and James alone.

An awkward silence fell over the two of them. James led the way back to the Heads' Quarters. He couldn't resist it anymore, "So what were you and Remus really doing together?"

Lily looked at James confused. Then it hit her in a wave of laughter, "You're jealous of Remus? You think that we're…that we would…oh James."

James scowled as Lily continued to laugh. Okay so that voice in his head had been completely and utterly wrong with its suggestion that anything would ever happen between Lily and Remus. But he did enjoy listening to her laugh. It was like tinkling bells, and the way her eyes crinkled at the corners brought butterflies to his stomach.

"Okay, okay it was a stupid idea," James grumbled while she couldn't stop laughing.

Lily had to stop and clutch her stomach. She was getting quite the ab workout from all this laughing. When she looked up there was an odd glint in James's eyes. She tilted her head quizzically. It was a look she had never seen before in his eyes. Suddenly he was leaning in towards her.

* * *

Remus, Sirius, Marlene and Mary sat in a circle playing a muggle card game that Mary was attempting to teach them. She was failing miserably, mostly because Sirius refused to listen to a word she had to say. He was much more interested in the little blonde fifth year who was smiling coyly at him from across the room.

"Sirius will you pay attention? The girls are destroying us!" Remus cried frustrated, the game wasn't too difficult to understand and he was sure that if Sirius was paying attention they'd be winning. "How could you call clubs when you didn't have any in your hand?"

Marlene snickered as she began to reshuffle the deck. It was only too easy for her and Mary to beat them. "Let's make the stakes a little bit higher then. Let's make this, strip euchre?"

At the word strip Sirius snapped back to the group. "Did someone say the word strip? I'm in, come on Remus, let's get these girls out of their clothing." Sirius winked mischievously at Mary who blushed bright red.

"Way to go Marlene," she muttered mutinously.

"We can't play in the common room," Remus said trying to weasel out of playing this game.

"Then let's find somewhere more private!" Sirius insisted as her racked his brains for a place. "Let's go play in the Heads' Quarters!"

"Sirius, James never told you the password for this exact reason." Remus told him.

"But Lily gave me the password," Marlene murmured with an impish smirk on her face.

* * *

Lily ducked under James's arm just in time to avoid his lips. "Gonna have to move faster than that if you want to plant a kiss on me Potter!"

James groaned when he heard her call him Potter, why was he stupid? Why did he have to try and kiss her now? Then she heard her laughter, when he looked at her she wasn't angry she was smiling as she raced down the hall and around the corner. He grinned and chased after her.

"I'm gonna get you Evans! No girl says no to a kiss from the famous James Potter!"

Lily laughed as she raced around another corner. She met a dead end and turned to see James sprinting towards her. "You're cornered now!"

Lily ducked away from him, sticking her arms out to keep him too far away to plant a kiss. The smile on her face couldn't get any bigger. Although she enjoyed James's humour she really didn't want him to kiss her, she accepted him as a friend but nothing more than that. At least not right now!

James grabbed her wrists in one hand and pulled her to him. "I've got you now!"

Lily squirmed, trying to get out of his grip. "You'll never take me alive!"

James took the challenge and through her over his shoulder with ease. He ignored her protests and demands to put her down. She asked him where he was taking her. "Back to my lair."

* * *

Sirius huffed as he stripped his trousers off. The girls were still winning despite his and Remus's best efforts. The boys were down to their last piece of clothing, their boxer shorts, while both girls had only removed their socks and shoes.

"Sirius, I'm going to kill you!" Remus muttered murderously as he folded his trousers and tried to cover himself as best he could.

"Suck it up Sirius, you wanted to play now you're going to reap the consequences of trying to get me and Mary out of our clothes," Marlene laughed as she passed the deck to Remus to shuffle.

Before Remus could deal out the cards they heard a high pitched giggling and deep laugh coming through the portrait hole.

"James put me down!" Lily laughed as she squirmed in his hold.

"If you don't stop squirming I'm going to drop you, maybe it'll knock you unconscious and then I'll be able to tie you up so you can't run away again!"

Sirius couldn't resist himself, James had given him such a golden opportunity, "I never knew you were so kinky Prongs! He's definitely a keeper Lilyflower!"

James and Lily stopped and looked at the four people who were in their rooms. Clearly baffled as to why Remus and Sirius were in their underwear. They weren't even angry that they were in there. Lily was blushing hard at Sirius's comment though.

"Do I even want to know what you're doing?" James asked.

"We're playing strip euchre and the boys are losing, Mary and I are going to have them out of their boxers soon." Marlene laughed.

Remus and Mary clearly did not want to be playing. Lily and James couldn't help but laugh at their predicament. "Mary, I'll take your spot."

Everyone in the room looked shocked. No one thought that Lily would want to play. They thought she would tell them to get out of her rooms and that they shouldn't be playing something with the word strip in it. She was Head Girl.

"Remus get dressed, I'm in." James smirked at the blush on Lily's face.

Mary and Remus both looked relieved. Remus got dressed quickly and took a spot next to Mary on one of the couches. Sirius put his clothes back on and Marlene put her socks and shoes on as Lily explained how to play euchre to James.

"We'll play a couple hands for you to grasp the idea, wouldn't want my team to have an unfair advantage," Lily smirked, she and Marlene were going to smoke the two boys.

James couldn't help but laugh to himself in his head. He chose not to tell Lily that his grandma liked muggle card games too, that she had taught all of them to James in his childhood and that euchre had been his absolute favourite. After three trial hands Sirius demanded that they start the real game, and they did. The first hand went to the girls and each boy removed a shoe. Then the boys euchred the girls twice, socks and shoes were off.

Sirius was of course whispering lewd things as the cards were dealt. Even Marlene couldn't help but blush. Lily refused to make eye contact with anyone now. The problem was James and Sirius could almost read each other's mind, they were so good at nonverbal communication that it was almost unfair to Marlene and Lily.

"Euchre!" Sirius yelled excitedly. The girls had a choice take off their shirt or their pants.

"Maybe we should just surrender Marlene," Lily whispered, she really didn't want the boys to see her in her underwear.

"Absolutely not, we will beat them now take off your shirt!"

Lily grimaced as she began to remove her shirt. Why did she pick the lacy blue bra this morning?

"Just think of it as a bikini top Lily!" Marlene who had shamelessly ripped her shirt over her head told her.

Next the boys lost their other shoe and both socks. Then their shirts came off. James smirked as Lily's eyes roved over his chest like they had in the bathroom that first morning. "Like what you see Lilyflower? I know me and Prongsie are just the most handsome men in this school, but don't let that distract you from losing all you clothes to us!"

Lily scowled at Sirius as she dealt the next hand. She had the perfect hand. They were going to win, there was no doubt about it. The card that was turned up was the right bower, if she picked it up she'd have both bowers, the ace, a queen and the nine.

Everyone murmured pass. Lily picked it up and said she was going alone. She led with the two bowers and ace. The boys groaned as they realized they'd lost. Lily followed with the queen and then the nine.

"Well let's see how cute those tushies are boys!" Marlene grinned as she began to put her clothes back on.

Sirius and James stood and stripped off their pants. Lily turned red and before they could get completely naked she told them to stop. Marlene was very disappointed with her. "My room my rules!" Lily called out.

James looked at his watch and told the four guests they'd better get back to Gryffindor Tower, there were ten minutes until curfew. Sirius winked at Lily as he pulled his clothes on. He and Marlene playfully bickered on their way out.

"If I'd wanted to see you naked McKinnon I totally could have!"

"In your dreams Black!" Marlene laughed as she led the way out the portrait hole.

"Well duh! Of course I dream about your pretty blonde figure in my dreams!"

The portrait hole swung shut, putting a wall between the conversation and the two Heads. "Good night James."

Lily turned and began walking up the stairs to her room. James nodded good night to her and began to make his way to his own room. "And James, I'm glad we're friends now."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Let me know what you think!


	6. Blue Periwinkle

**Chapter Six: Blue Periwinkle – Beginning of Friendship**

It was no longer an odd site to Lily with any one of the four Marauders. She had gotten over her prejudice of them quite quickly, she even had to admit that some of Sirius's pranks were funny. She scolded him afterwards as per her Head Girl duties but she couldn't keep the grins from her face as she did it.

"Let's be real here Lilyflower, you know that I did the right thing! The Slytherins were just showing their school spirit by painting themselves green!"

Lily shook her head and scooped more carrots onto her plate. "Stop calling me Lilyflower!"

"But you need a nickname! All of my friends have nicknames, see James is Prongs and Remus is Moony, Peter's Wormtail. I've decided to call Mary, Mouse and I'm still thinking of one for Marlene, I thought Blondie would be a good one for her, but it's so obvious that she wouldn't get the reference behind it!"

"Well it could either be because she has blonde hair or because of the rock band Blondie," Lily told him.

"See she wouldn't be able to see past the blonde hair," Sirius responded as he mashed all the food on his plate together. "She's not muggle-born like your and Mary."

"Well that definitely explains how YOU know about Blondie, oh wait, I forgot, your family is all about pureblood mania," Lily raised a challenging eyebrow.

"Well of course they are! But I like a little bit of culture in my life, probably why my mother blew me off the family tree," Sirius shrugged at Lily's disgruntled expression about the last part. "It was bound to happen sooner or later, I'm not heartbroken about it if that's what you're worried about."

* * *

October was flying past and before the group of Gryffindors knew Halloween was a few days away and the full moon was in two nights. Sirius, James, Peter and Remus sat around the fire in the Heads' common room discussing their plans for that night.

"Alright, so I think we should explore those caves up by Hogsmeade," James said, he received a nod from Sirius who was all for another midnight adventure.

"I dunno James, that would bring us awfully close to the village," Remus hesitated, "what if someone decides to take a night time stroll to the Hog's Head or something, I don't want there to be an accident."

"Oh budge up Moony, we're not going to let you bite anyone!" Sirius practically shouted.

Remus shushed looking doo the open door at the top of stairs. James saw this and let him know that Lily was in fact in the library, he even took out the Marauder's map to show that they were the only four there at the time.

"Still, it would be bad to let Sirius get into the habit of shouting things like that," Remus looked pointedly at Sirius who didn't even bat an eyelash at the reprimand.

Peter laughed at Sirius and tried to dodge the fist headed for his arm. He failed and Sirius landed quite a hard blow. Peter scowled and rubbed his shoulder, muttering things under his breath that none of the other boys could understand.

"Alright, enough with the arguing. This is what we're doing tomorrow night, no more complaining or arguing or hitting people," James declared as he looked at his three friends.

Lily and Mary walked in at that moment. The boys quickly hid the map and what they'd been writing down on a piece of parchment, their ideas for tomorrow night. Lily and Mary looked a little suspicious but didn't say anything as they made towards the stairs and Lily's room.

"Lilyflower, Mouse," Sirius nodded his greetings to the two girls.

"I don't understand why you keep calling me Mouse," Mary told him confused. She didn't look like a mouse and she wasn't a quiet person.

"Because of Mary Mouse duh!" Sirius looked at the girls like they were simple.

Mary and Lily exchanged looks. "I think you mean Minnie Mouse, Sirius." Lily told him while Mary started to giggle.

"And you call yourself cultured? People on the moon know who Minnie Mouse is!" Mary burst into laughter.

"Hmmpf," Sirius crossed his arms and pouted. "They both start with an M, anyone could have gotten confused!"

Lily and Mary continued to laugh as they continued on their way. Sirius flushed slightly as he moved to block their way. "Why don't you two stay here and help us all uh become more cultured." He grinned a charming grin and tried to steer them towards the couches.

"No, that's okay Sirius, I think you're already cultured enough," Lily smiled and the two girls left.

Sirius quickly gathered his things, the other three looking at him suspiciously. After they heard Lily scream his name did they realize he'd somehow managed to get into her room to play some nasty prank on her, well he called it good-natured, Lily called it nasty.

"Sirius I'm going to kill you!"

"See you guys later," Sirius ran from the room without taking a glance back.

"One of these days she's going to turn him into a toad." James laughed as he watched his best friend high tail it out of the room.

Lily came sprinting down the stairs and knocked poor Peter over. Luckily for him he landed on one of the couches, "Where is he? I'm really going to kill him this time."

The boys pointed towards the door and gestured that Sirius had fled at the threat of her wrath. Lily could have been making steam come out of her ears, her face was almost as red as her hair. Soon it would be turning purple.

"Alright Lily, calm down," James approached her cautiously, he was worried for his own personal safety at this point. "What did Sirius do?"

Mary skipped down the stairs at the point with a handful of Lily's clothes. To the boys it just looked like a large pile of hot pink fabric.

"He turned all of my clothing hot pink!" Lily shrieked.

The boys looked completely confused. They didn't really see the problem with what Sirius had done. It's not like he had died them an ugly colour, the shade of pink was actually quite pleasant. Lily could tell that they didn't understand and marched over to Mary. She grabbed a blouse that was originally green and held it up to her vibrant red hair.

Remus gasped, James winced and Peter fell off of the couch. The combination of hot pink and bright red did not make for a pleasant combination.

"It's going to take me all night to put these all back to their original colours. Ughhhh," Lily moaned and stamped her foot. "If I'd wanted my clothing to be tampered with I would have stayed in Gryffindor Tower where I at least expected these shenanigans."

"Lily, I'll help you turn them back," James offered, he knew she wasn't too good at Transfiguration and knowing Sirius that's what he did instead of a colour changing charm which Lily would be able to undo in a heartbeat. "And I'll help you figure out how to get back at Sirius."

Lily still looked pissed but she helped Mary bring all of the clothes that she was willing to let James see, that is her ahem delicate articles remained up in her room. They set up a kind of assembly line, everyone but Peter helped to fix the clothing.

"Alright, they're all fixed," James said confidently as he beamed at Lily. It had only taken two hours, once again Remus, Mary and Peter were cutting it very close to curfew, James and Lily said good night to them.

"So how are we going to get back at Sirius?" James asked, maybe Lily had some idea of how she wanted to get revenge.

"You're really going to help me get revenge on one of your friends?" Lily asked, in awe at what James was conspiring to do.

"You're my friend too silly," James laughed and poked her in the arm.

Lily smiled and began to think about what she wanted to do to Sirius as a prank. Truth was she wasn't very good at this kind of thing. She looked at James and shrugged her shoulders. He was going to have to be the brains of this operation.

"Hmm, well Sirius can be very vain about himself as I'm sure you've noticed," James laughed as Lily nodded her head enthusiastically, this was sounding good to her.

"So what if we cut his hair?" Lily asked, "And died it bright orange?"

"See the problem with that is he'd probably either be able to change it back or he'd wake up and force it to grow back the way it looked before."

Lily didn't understand, "Do you mean like when little kids can't control their magic?"

"Kind of, but it would be more like Sirius just shoving his magic into what he wanted it to do."

Lily nodded, she thought hard about this, "What if we charmed it so that everyone else saw that his hair was different, kind of like a fake image on top of his real hair."

"That could work," James said, it would be a complex prank but those were always the good ones and if they failed at least they could say they tried.

* * *

The next morning Sirius walked into a great hall and people were looking at him in wonder. A seventh year Ravenclaw boy, Bryce Howe, told Sirius that his hair looked great. Sirius confused continued over to his group of friends who were trying hard to contain their laughter.

"Sirius, looking good," Marlene burst, tears streaming down her face.

Sirius scowled and asked Mary if she had a mirror. Mary nodded, eyes crinkling as she reached into her bag and pulled out a compact mirror. Sirius grabbed it from her and flipped it open. It didn't look like there was anything wrong with his hair. He magically duplicated the mirror so that he could get a view of the back of his head with the two of them combined.

All throughout the day Sirius heard people calling out to him about his hear. Even Professor McGonagall told him that it was an interesting choice. By dinner time Lily couldn't keep the smugness from her face, James too smirked every time he looked at Sirius. This had definitely been one of the better pranks he'd played in his time at Hogwarts.

"I think I've had my fair share of revenge, let's show him so that he can go and fix it," lily told James as Sirius sat down for dinner.

James nodded and waved his wand under the table. Lily pulled a mirror out of her bag and handed it to Sirius. He flipped it open and dropped it. He laughed loudly, this time it was he who had tears in his eyes.

"Alright, whose idea was this?" Sirius cried.

James and Lily both pointed to each other and began to laugh uncontrollably. "So how do I get my normal hair back?"

Both of the pranksters shrugged their shoulders at him and laughed even harder at his scowl. Remus, Mary and Marlene shook their heads. Peter was stuffing his face with food, completely ignoring the rest of them. He was becoming annoyed with their pranks and laughter. Most of the time it was at his expense and it wasn't very nice.


	7. Buttercup

**Chapter Seven: Buttercup – Childishness**

After Lily and James turned Sirius's hair orange an all-out prank war broke out between the group. One day Lily and Marlene would pull a prank on the boys, the next Marlene was plotting revenge with James to get back at Lily. Both of the Heads had to admit that what they were doing was a little childish but it helped to distress them from all the NEWT work.

The only person out of the seven Gryffindors that didn't seem enthusiastic about all the pranks was Peter. This was for two reasons, one he always seemed to get caught in the prank even when it wasn't designed for him, and two, because the pranks he planned never worked.

"Why are you guys still doing this?" Peter moaned as he tried to pull chicken feathers out of his hair.

"C'mon Pete, it's fun!" Marlene laughed, she felt a little bad that Peter had gotten the honey and chicken feather mixture dumped on him, it had been meant for James.

"It's not fun when I'm the one who always gets pranked and never the chance to prank someone else," Peter grumbled, he gave in and went in search of a shower to wash the honey out with.

* * *

Marlene sat between Sirius and James on the couch in Gryffindor Tower. They were planning the biggest prank so far. Sirius had a piece of parchment and was doodling on a piece of parchment while James and Marlene made a list of items that they would need on another.

"Sirius what are you even doing to help right now?" Marlene asked as she saw that Sirius was drawing a busty witch on the parchment.

"I'm what makes the plan work Blondie, I make things run smoothly," Sirius told her. "I'm ingredient X."

Marlene started to giggle and poked him in the stomach, "Alright Mr. X, what are you going to do to make this work?"

Sirius shrugged his shoulders and turned back to his drawing. James told him that the witch was lopsided and Sirius told him to sod off. The planning phase of the prank was over, now to get all the supplies so that on Monday morning the school would be unable to go about its daily business.

* * *

Lily got up early on Monday morning, she had been very suspicious at how quiet Sirius, James and Marlene had been yesterday. Too quiet since all three of them were boisterous, loud people. James door was still shut, she hoped that he was still asleep and something bad wasn't going to happen to her when she left the Heads' Quarters.

The walk down to breakfast was quiet, almost as if no one else in the castle was walking around. She turned the corner of a hall and realized why no one was walking around. Sirius and James were setting plastic cups on the ground while Marlene followed behind them filling them magically with water.

"You can't be serious?" Lily said as she looked around, the entire hallway was filled with cups.

"But I am Sirius!" Sirius grinned at the pun, James and Marlene groaned, they had heard that one so many times.

"What are you trying to accomplish with doing this?" Lily asked.

"A day of relaxation for the seventh years," James told her as the trio moved closer, pushing her back the way she had come from. "These two are going to hang out with us in the Heads' common room for the day."

Lily followed them back down the hall as they worked as fast as they could to have everything done with them back in their room before McGonagall could realize what they had done. As they finished the last couple of feet they could hear shouting in the distance.

"Guess McGonagall has realised we've put a nasty little sticking charm on the cups!" Sirius laughed as they put the last cup down and went through the portrait hole into the common room.

"What kind of charm did you put on them? Not a permanent sticking charm?" Lily asked, "Because that would be very irresponsible."

"Oh hush Lilyflower, we're not stupid! It'll last until around dinner time."

The four friends spent the day playing exploding snap, euchre (the non-strip kind, much to Sirius's displeasure), and other card games that Lily taught them from her muggle upbringing. James and Sirius surprised Lily and Marlene with a picnic they had hid in James's room before they'd begun their take-a-day-off-prank.

Dinner time came and passed and the four young people were having too much fun to even think of checking if the hallways had been cleared yet. It had been such a long day playing and relaxing and joking around that the four teenagers were exhausted. Lily was stretched out on one couch her feet resting on James's lap and Marlene was sound asleep curled up on a catch, Sirius's arm was wrapped around her shoulder and her head rested against his shoulder.

"So you and Blondie, Padfoot?" James asked with a little grin.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders and grinned a bit to himself. He wasn't even sure if he was looking for a steady relationship but he just liked being in her company. It seemed to him that she didn't mind being in his company either, "Maybe, we'll see. I'm thinking of asking her to the Hogsmeade weekend at the end of the week."

"Well treat her well, she's like a sister to me and if you upset her I will not be happy with you," James told him, pretending to be stern and pounding a fist into his hand.

"Like I couldn't take you," Sirius whispered loudly, not wanting to shout in Marlene's ear. "And what about you and Lilyflower over there?"

Lily turned her attention to Sirius, "We're just friends Sirius."

"I don't know, you two have been very close lately," Sirius wiggled his eyebrows and laughed at Lily's blush. "I'm just teasing, but you two are perfect for each other."

* * *

There wasn't enough evidence for McGonagall to prove that Sirius and James had been behind the prank, but she knew. She assigned them so much homework in Transfiguration that the seventh years doubted they would be even able to go into the village that weekend. The only person that didn't seem disturbed with the homework was Lily, who somehow managed to have all the Transfiguration homework done by midnight that night. James and Sirius decided to put it off and begin planning another prank, it would take them a quarter of the time it took for Lily to do the work anyways.

"We should prank Peter, he's been a little bugger lately, always moping around." Sirius wanted to make the suits of armour follow Peter around all day.

"Sirius, I don't think that's a good idea," Remus started to say when Sirius waved him off.

"Come off it Moony, Peter just needs a good laugh to get him back."

Remus shook his head, it seemed that everyone agreed with Remus. Peter had been acting out a bit and no one seemed to know why, they all thought that by leaving Peter alone the problem would run its course and all the tension when it came to Peter would disappear.

"I guess I'll do it alone then," Sirius told them, he didn't really care if they chose to help or not he was still going to charm a couple suits of armour to follow Peter.

* * *

By dinnertime Peter was furious with Sirius. He was ready to yell at him when he got to the Great Hall. "And he wonders why I'm mad at him. Setting up stupid pranks for his own enjoyment. All he's really doing is picking on me because I'm not as good as he is at Transfiguration or Potions or Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Peter sat down next to Mary and the suits of armour came to a halt. Lily and Mary looked at Peter sympathetically, they felt bad that he'd been Sirius's target. Lily had offered that morning to make the suits of armour go away and when she'd tried they'd starting singing in horrible screeching voices, Sirius's idea to prevent Peter from getting rid of them easily.

"Sirius! Get rid of these!" Peter shouted at Sirius who was flirting shamelessly with Marlene.

"Oh c'mon Wormy, they're just a bit of fun, have they sang to you yet?" Sirius laughed heartily as he turned back to Marlene.

James and Remus could see Peter turning a violent shade of red and tried to calm him down. Telling him they'd get rid of the suits of armour. They succeeded in only making them sing again. Sirius let out a gleeful whoop. McGonagall marched down the table towards them, a severe look on her face.

"What is the meaning of this?" She asked looking between Sirius and Peter and then James and Remus. "Mr. Pettigrew I thought I told you to get rid of the armour this morning."

"I've tried Professor, really I have but I can't get rid of them!"

"Hmpf. Mr. Potter and Miss Evans, I'd have thought the two of you would have been able to come up with something that would have prevented so much disruption today."

"Honestly Professor, we've both tried to get rid of them but every time we try they start to sing like a dying animal." Lily was pink in the face, she was ashamed that McGonagall thought she wouldn't try to get rid of them.

McGonagall turned to the suits of armour and tried to banish them. They started to sing and McGonagall immediately regretted it. She turned to Sirius, a glare fixed on him that was ready for a kill. "Mr. Black undo this spell you've cast immediately."

Sirius flicked his wand at the suits of armour and they immediately began to walk out of the Great Hall. "Detention, Mr. Black. For a week, never in all my years have I had a student so pent on causing disruption. First the cups and now this – yes Mr. Black I know you put all those cups down even if there isn't enough evidence for me to put you in detention like I should."

Professor McGonagall turned and walked away. Sirius shrugged his shoulders, he didn't really care that he was in detention, he'd had worse punishments in the past. He did however care that Peter was being a little brat about the whole thing. "You're such a baby Peter, it was only a joke, didn't need to go whining to McGonagall about it."

Peter had had the last straw, "Oh shut up Black! I'm tired of your childish games and I'm tired of the rest of you letting him get away with all of it. You're all bullies as far as I'm concerned and I don't want to be friends with a bunch of bullies."

Peter didn't even care that he was only half done his meal, he got up and stalked out of the Great Hall. If anyone had looked across the hall at the Slytherin table they would have noticed a group of people looking very pleased with this new development. The Marauders falling apart, Sirius and James both finally getting girls that they cared so much about they would do anything to protect. Yes the Slytherins were happy that Peter wasn't part of the Gryffindor gang anymore.

"Sirius, couldn't you apologize to Peter," Mary asked him, she didn't like conflict, it made her very uncomfortable.

"Absolutely not, it was a joke and he knows that. He's just mad because he couldn't figure out how to get rid of them," Sirius said nonchalantly.

"Well how was he supposed to get rid of them then if when you try and banish them they screech!" Lily was annoyed with Sirius now, he was being incredibly childish, it appeared that even James seemed to be on her side.

"All Peter had to do was ask the suits of armour to go away, but apparently he couldn't even do that right."

Lily bristled at Sirius's superior tone. He was acting like he was the end all be all. James gave Sirius a warning glance, he knew Lily's I'm-about-to-yell-at-you-and-make-you-wish-you-had n't-been-born look.

"Lily, the Great Hall is not the place to yell at Sirius, we'll do it later in private where you can really tell him what you want without being a bad example for the younger students, remember you're Head Girl." James whispered to her quickly before she could begin yelling.

* * *

Later that night the six Gryffindors gathered in the Heads' common room. Lily screamed at Sirius for a half hour, everyone else winced. Their ears hurting after the first five minutes of the shouting. By the end though Lily seemed to have gotten through to Sirius, he at least seemed a little remorseful at how he had treated Peter.

"I'll apologize to him okay, just no more shouting, please."


End file.
